


entendez-vous

by clearlykero



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Espionage, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 11:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14103921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clearlykero/pseuds/clearlykero
Summary: JJ comes home late, these days. He smells like disinfectant and laundry, and it's hard for Yuri to not roll away when he crawls into bed.





	entendez-vous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [foxinsocksinabox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxinsocksinabox/gifts).



> fairly loose definition of espionage au, forgive me. setting may or may not be a blatant weiss kreuz au (coughs)

JJ comes home late, these days. He smells like disinfectant and laundry, and it's hard for Yuri to not roll away when he crawls into bed. He hates anything in bed that reminds him of work. Otabek slings his arm across their bodies, pressing his big palm to JJ's ribs, and Yuri manages to find forgiveness in himself when JJ trembles against them. He remembers that sometimes, JJ doesn't come home at all, and the smell of bleach is better than that.

In the morning JJ is awake first, and he's made pancakes as he does no matter how many times Otabek complains he's sick of them. Yuri stands at the counter to eat, slathering his portion with maple syrup and earning a brilliant grin from JJ that he acts like he can't see. When a yawning Otabek has made it out of bed, JJ puts the last stack of pancakes on the table, throws on his pink apron, and goes downstairs to open shop. (He doesn't eat breakfast after a job.)

"Did you hear from Victor?" Yuri asks, when he's sure JJ is out of hearing range.

Otabek sighs. He's put the kettle on the stove and is now looking for a clean mug. Yuri drinks the last of his tea and passes his own mug over. There's still jam in the bottom where he didn't stir it in properly, but Otabek never minds.

"Thank you," Otabek says, accepting the mug. He eyes their tea shelf critically. They're almost out of the Darjeeling tea bags. "Victor hasn't said anything to me."

Yuri drops his fork onto his cleared plate, then turns and dumps the lot in the sink with a clatter. From the hook over the dish rack he plucks a rubber band to tie his hair up. "I don't like that they use him so much. What do they think we're here for?"

Otabek is watching the kettle. They should get an electric one, Yuri thinks absently. It takes too long to boil water, and they drink too much tea. Eventually, Otabek looks at him.

"JJ works faster than us, you know that."

A loud thump sounds downstairs. They both still instantly. A second later, JJ yells that he's just dropped a delivery box, don't worry.

"You see?" Yuri hisses. "Working towards a breakdown."

The kettle whistles noisily. Otabek takes it off the stove. "It's only a dropped box, Yuri."

"That's the first time he's talked since he came back last night. He's too quiet."

Otabek pours his mug of tea, refusing to answer. Yuri makes a cut-off sound of frustration, takes the milk from where it's sweating on one of the chairs and slams it down next to Otabek.

Snapping at Otabek won't help the situation, but he's run out of anything else to do. He isn't even good at the cover part of the job; all he can do is stand at the cashier and try not to growl at the female customers who think flirting is an acceptable mode of communication. And he can't help with the real job unless Victor and Katsuki _let_ him, which they are stupidly not doing.

"I'm going downstairs," Yuri says. "It's your turn to wash."

Otabek catches his arm. "Yuri," he says, searching for something in Yuri's eyes. Yuri has nothing. He leans in for a kiss instead, too deep for so early in the morning. Otabek tastes like the cigarettes he pretends he doesn't smoke. They linger over it, reassuring with touch instead of words that neither of them can figure out, and when they part Yuri feels his heart clench.

"I'm going downstairs," he repeats, and goes.

Downstairs, the shop is still not ready. Yuri looks at the wall clock; it's already 9AM. Usually JJ will be out in the retail area, arranging the day's bouquets and refreshing any flowers that need his attention. Today the floor is oppressively quiet, not even the sound of JJ's off-tune singing to welcome him. Maybe he's gone to get coffee, Yuri thinks. They don't have a coffee machine. He's about to open the shopfront to look outside when he hears something rustle in the back room.

Yuri, ever alert to the possibility of danger, strides over and throws the door open, and for a moment his heart stops— but JJ is just hunched over on the floor, not collapsed, not _hurt_ , and the dark red around him is from a fallen box of dahlias. Yuri's immediate thought is to run back up and tell Otabek _I told you so_ , but even he can see it's not the time.

"JJ," Yuri says, quietly. He picks his way carefully around the flowers. JJ wouldn't like if he ruined them. And he can see more clearly now, how JJ is shaking. Maybe he isn't physically hurt but Yuri knows enough to know he isn't alright. "JJ, you know where we are?"

It's quiet but for the sound of their breathing— Yuri's soft and even, JJ's hitched and shallow. Yuri isn't in a very comfortable position, crouched down as he is. He wishes guiltily, in the back of his mind, that JJ would hurry up. "The shop," JJ answers finally, hands clenching on his thighs.

"Yeah." Yuri reaches out slowly, giving the other enough time to pull away if he wants to. JJ lets him. Yuri hadn't realised he was wound up himself until his fingers touch JJ's skin and all his muscles relax at once. He exhales sharply, stirring up dust particles and bits of green from the flowers. "Don't try to work if you can't do it, asshole."

"I can—"

" _Shut up_ ," Yuri almost shouts. JJ flinches and looks back at the spilled dahlias. "Just— don't be a fucking idiot. Otabek can take over today."

Otabek takes one look at JJ when Yuri brings him upstairs, and immediately draws him into an embrace. Yuri meets his eyes over JJ's shoulder and mouths, _I told you so._ Otabek isn't petty enough to actually care, but he does roll his eyes. None of this is a solution for JJ, though. In the end they decide to overrule JJ's protests and close the shop for the day. They end up, of course, in bed, wrapped around JJ like squids.

"Do you want to talk about it," Otabek tries asking, but before he can even finish the question JJ's shaking his head emphatically. Not for the first time, Yuri wonders what they make him do. Something bloody, he knows that much; JJ wouldn't come back smelling like disinfectant otherwise. Otabek thinks it's something else. Yuri doesn't agree. He doesn't believe Katsuki would ask _that_ from any of them— Victor, maybe (Yuri knows intimately what Victor is capable of asking), but not bleeding heart Katsuki.

Inevitably, Yuri's hands stray below JJ's waist, because he can never just sleep without doing something. JJ is unusually pliant; he rarely allows them to take the initiative except when he's sleepy, but today isn't quite like that. He's a little too desperate to please, a little too eager to take Otabek's fingers without any prep. He lets them do whatever they want, really, and when Otabek presses into him he chokes on an ugly sob.

"Don't stop," he begs when Otabek tries to pull out. "Don't leave me."

"We're not," Otabek soothes, kissing him gently when he tries to protest some more. Yuri splays his fingers on JJ's stomach, watching tears wet his eyelashes and trail into his hair. "No one is going anywhere. Be good for me."

JJ can't seem to stop crying, and it's too raw for them to do anything other than pretend they don't hear it, a flimsy lie to protect what little dignity he has left. All they can do is fuck him until he's too tired to think straight, and so they do. Yuri doesn't feel good when they are done, but JJ is a lazy sprawl of limbs between them, wrung out and content, so he lets it go.

Yuri's mind wanders while JJ talks to Otabek about the next order of flowers they should make. He is going to talk to Victor tonight, he thinks. Yuri and Otabek haven't been called in for over three months now, while JJ has been leaving almost every two days. There's no way the work is that specifically suited for JJ alone.

"JJ," Yuri says into the nape of his neck.

"Yes, my lovely kitten," JJ replies. Yuri bites him, _hard_. Maybe he'll talk to Victor tomorrow instead.

The rest of the day passes in a comfortable haze of indolence, until dusk falls and JJ grows tense. He doesn't need to say anything for them to know he's leaving again.

Otabek tangles his fingers in JJ's hair. _Don't go_ , it says. Yuri wants to laugh at the futility, but he can't do it because his own arm is locked around JJ's waist.

"I have to," almost too quiet to hear, "I have to because if it's not me it would be one of you and I couldn't bear it. I _won't_ ," JJ snaps when Otabek opens his mouth probably to say what Yuri is thinking. "I won't let you do it."

Yuri's chest is full of things that are too dangerous to voice, sentiments too naive for the world they're living in. "Fucking asshole," he snarls, and kisses JJ until he can't breathe, hating every second that brings them closer to another parting.

"See you later," JJ says, and they watch him go.

 

* * *

 

(Perhaps one day Yuri has his screaming match with Victor and earns JJ a reprieve; perhaps Otabek negotiates their contracts until an actual end date is in sight; perhaps Yuuri takes pity on them and lets them keep the florist after he lets them go; perhaps on some far off day in the future the three of them can live without death hanging over their every minute together— but that is a story for another day.)


End file.
